Settlement brings dismissal of wrongful death lawsuit

On behalf of Patricia M. Jarzobski, P.C. posted in Wrongful Death on Friday, October 16, 2015.

A wrongful death lawsuit has recently been dismissed with a settlement of an undisclosed amount. A woman died while skiing on a Colorado mountain and her family claims it was the fault of another skier. The wrongful death case was set to go to trial early next year but that has been removed from the schedule as a condition of the dismissal.

According to the lawsuit and interviews by an investigator with the woman's boyfriend, she was on the far side of a ski run when she stopped on a trail that joined two runs together to wait for him. Another skier, going very fast and seemingly out of control, swerved to miss colliding with the boyfriend but hit her and knocked her to the ground. Upon hitting the ground, she suffered injuries that the coroner says caused cardiac arrest. The family had also hired a forensic pathologist to testify that, in his opinion, her injury was caused by being hit by another skier.

The defendant had her own version of the events that happened, and it did not match that of the boyfriend's. She said the other woman was in the middle of the ski run as she was waiting for her boyfriend to join her on the trail. The defendant yelled an alert and said 'on your left' as she was coming down the slope. The defendant does not recall the actual impact but noted she was shocked to find herself on the ground. The defendant had also filed a motion to name the boyfriend as a nonparty, which placed the blame for his girlfriend's death on him.

The death of a loved one brings not only emotional loss but financial loss as well. A wrongful death lawsuit can pursue compensation if it is determined that the cause of death is negligence. There are experienced professionals who can help Colorado families in their quests for financial compensation as they face difficult situations such as this.

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